IslamicFinance.de

Malaysian sukuk investors are designing strategies for 2015 that will profit as a new tax both pushes up inflation and forces central bank rate increases. Malaysian consumer-price increases will average 4 percent in 2015, the highest in seven years, as a new consumption tax starts in April. One-year interest-rate swaps climbed to a six-year high of 3.87 percent this week. Experts recommend buying Islamic bonds in the middle of the so-called yield curve, which are less exposed to losses from inflation and interest-rate moves. The government will implement a 6 percent goods and services tax as part of efforts to cut the fiscal deficit that included scrapping fuel subsidies.